BALJENOPTERA. 43 



29. velifera (Balanopterd) , Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil., 1869, 



p. 16. Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 12. 

 COPE'S WHALE. 



Type locality. Shores of Oregon and California. 



Geogr. Distr. North Pacific Ocean to Commander Islands. 



Genl. Char. Size large; width of flukes one-fourth total length. 



Color. Above black or blackish brown, beneath milky white; 

 baleen light lead color. 



Measurements. Total length, 60 feet. ^. 



30. sulfurea (Sibbaldius) , Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Scien. Phil., 1869, 



p. 20. 



sulfurea (Balcenoptera) Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 14. 

 YELLOW-BELLIED WHALE. 



Type locality. NcfHhwest coast of America. 



Geogr. Distr. North Pacific Ocean to Bering Sea. 



Genl. Char. Body slender; pectorals small, short, ends rounded; 

 dorsal fin small, placed far back; baleen broad at base. 



Color. Above light brown or brownish black, sometimes whitish; 

 beneath yellow or a sulphur hue ; baleen black or bluish black. 



Measurements. Total length, 95 feet; circumference, 39 feet; 

 length of mandible, 21 feet; longest baleen, 4 feet; weight of baleen, 

 800 pounds; estimated weight of animal, 147 tons. (Scammon.) 



The toothed Cetacea embrace a large number of species included 

 in several families and genera, and are known by the common names 

 of Sperm Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises, etc. All of them yield a cer- 

 tain quantity of oil, and are objects of pursuit in all the seas they 

 inhabit. The greatest and most important species of all is, of course, 

 the Cachalot, or Sperm Whale, which, excepting the Whalebone Whales, 

 is the largest of living mammals, attaining at times a total length of 

 eighty feet or more, and individuals are frequently met with over 

 seventy feet. It is a very differently shaped animal from the Whale- 

 bone Whale, such as the Bowhead or Greenland Whale, for instance. 

 The huge head is a high, straight-sided mass cut off square in front, 

 and is about one-third the length of the body, and its great bulk is 

 chiefly caused by an immense accumulation around the narial pas- 

 sage of an oily substance which fills the great well on top of the head 

 and is known as spermaceti. In the intestines of this species is found 

 the valuable commodity known as "ambergris," used in perfumery, 

 and this substance is also met with floating on the seas this whale 

 frequents. It is merely the "detained anal concretion of a diseased 



